Microphone issue when plugging headset into 3.5mm, long RadioShack headphones extender cable

TechnicalIssuesSuck · Dec 1, 2020

Not the best with wording so bear with me, please.

I recently had to get a headphone extender cable since I had moved my laptop on top of my desk and made it go onto a monitor.

I found a RadioShack 3.5mm headphones extension cable where one end plugs into the laptop's audio cord spot and the other end of the 3.5mm cord is a thing where you plug the end of your headphones into to essentially have an extended cable for your headphones.

The cord is about 3 feet long so initially I was wondering if maybe the wires just weren't able to carry the mic through and into the end of the extension cable but that sounded a little dumb..

I have Windows 10 as my operating system and have read others have had issues somewhat like this. My AUDIO
is perfectly fine and the only real issue is the mic on my headset. The headset I'm using is Razer's Kraken X's and it says they are for PC, And the mic has worked fine without
the extension cable back when I did not need it..

I went into the Xbox Game Bar to test my mic with the extension cable and found that it showed no sort of 'We did not detect a microphone' message but the mic was not functioning as no sort of blinking circle around my Xbox account profile picture was going
thick white and then to nothing and doing that back and forth, Which the only time it had audio detected was when I would first press the 'Push To Talk' button to allow speaking and it did blink the white circle for a second as I held the push-to-talk.

I'm positive it is just a mic issue and would like to maybe have some help on how to be able to use party chat and such with the 3.5mm RadioShack 3 ft. Extension cord.

:)

Hardcore Games™

some extensions are so lossy that the signal cannot get through

usb bluetooth is one idea, the console does not support it natively

JosefLBohorquez

Thanks for the update!
Yes, to use microphone properly headphone jack needs to have 3 lines, will be nice test with a cable or headset with the 3 lines headphone jack <3.5mm>)

ArminatorX

You would need a CTIA adapter that splits the controller plug into a headset component and the Microphone component. Something

like this for example.

Then plug any stand up mic of your choice into the 3.5mm microphone plug.

If you want a professional microphone with XLR plug, you would need an
XLR to 3.5mm adapter.

A good audio microphone with 3.5mm jack would be the
Rode Video Mic Pro.

Just be aware that USB microphones do NOT work on the Xbox One.

Arminator

Before you go around checking for NAT issues and stuff:

Go to the messages area and try to compose a message. Then click on the microphone button and try to record a voice message.

If the microphone isn't detected, and you can't hear your voice, then it's a local issue on the controller or the headset itself.

If it is a headset with 3.5mm headphone jack and 3 rings, try if the headset works on a smartphone.

If it does work on the smartphone, it might be that the controller is defective.

Should the headset also not work on the phone itself, it might be that a lead in the headset cable is broken and you have a loose contact.

Depending on your seating position (as I have experienced it myself), the headset jack is pressing against your lower body when you are holding the controller comfortably. With the cable coming out "straight" from the plug, the cable gets bent a lot, and
susceptible for broken leads.

After I got a Plantronics RIG 400HX with a 90° angled plug, I had no issues with broken leads and missing Microphones.

BaronW

Just to pile on with issues with the adapter, I have an issue with my completely unrelated microphone going completely dead as long as a controller is connected via the adapter. If I plug the controller in via the USB cable, there's no issues at
all. When the controller disconnects, the microphone immediately functions normally again.

If I wanted to use an Xbox headset, I wouldn't have bought headphones, thanks.

Microphone issue when plugging headset into 3.5mm, long RadioShack headphones extender cable